The two attackers “clearly knew where I lived… when I passed by them they began to beat me brutally,” wrote Kovacevic, who was hospitalised in Banja Luka, the administrative capital of Republika Srpska.

The incident sparked outcry among local media, who reported that scores of people, including many journalists, gathered in Banja Luka on Monday to protest the attack.

Some 100 journalists gathered in the city of Banja Luka in Bosnia's Republika Srpska entity today to show support for their colleague Vladimir Kovacevic, who was attacked outside his home last night by unknown assailants, local media report.

“One of us has been attacked,” said the president of Bosnia’s journalists’ association Marko Divkovic.

“It looks like a case of organised terror from politicians, the justice system and the police,” he alleged, adding that he feared more trouble for Bosnian journalists in the run-up to October 7 elections.

Reporters in Bosnia are routinely subjected to verbal attacks, threats and libel lawsuits in a country with a deeply polarised political climate.

Kovacevic was attacked while returning from covering a demonstration over the death of 21-year-old student David Dragicevic.

The young man’s death has become a symbol of corruption and injustice with protesters accusing authorities of a cover-up.

The demonstrations — held daily since March — have become the leading political issue in Bosnia’s Serb-run entity as elections near.

The leader of Bosnia’s Serbs said Tuesday that they were moving towards the “highest possible” level of independence, which he said was a legitimate political goal in a country deeply divided since its 1990s war.

The US Embassy in Sarajevo condemned the attack and other recent physical assaults of journalists as “unacceptable”.

The EU’s delegation in Bosnia also denounced the incident and said it was closely tracking press freedom as it analyses the country’s application for membership in the bloc.

Journalists must be able to perform their work in full safety in #BiH. Attacks on media, as in the most recent case of Vladimir Kovacevic, are violations of journalists’ rights, as their safety is a precondition for free speech and free media. → https://t.co/iyftHxDg9apic.twitter.com/kaIo3ZJ28b

Harlem Désir, a media representative for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), also deplored the beating saying “the negative rhetoric being used against the media must end, in order to prevent further such attacks against journalists.”

“I urge the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to swiftly investigate this attack and bring its perpetrators to justice,” he added.

Very saddened by assault on journalist #VladimirKovačević. I express my solidarity to him & call on the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to identify & punish those responsible & do more to ensure that journalists can work freely & safely https://t.co/MhKAXyykf7